The Irishman (2019)

THE IRISHMAN  (2019)  ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2
    D: Martin Scorsese
    Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Al Pacino,
    Harvey Keitel, Ray Romano, Bobby Cannavale,
    Anna Paquin, Stephen Graham, Stephanie Kurtzuba
In "The Irishman", the "GoodFellas" grow old, with Robert De Niro as Frank Sheeran, a coldly efficient mob enforcer with a conflicted sense of loyalty to a pair of powerful mentors: crime boss Russell Bufalino (Joe Pesci) and Teamsters Union President Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino.) Scorsese made this for Netflix, which allows him to be expansive - the movie runs three and a half hours. That might be an hour longer than it needs to be, the CGI technology that's supposed to make the stars look younger isn't especially convincing, and it's pretty much devoid of sympathetic characters. De Niro plays Sheeran with the matter-of-factness of a guy who knows how the world works and knows his place in it. (He pays a hard personal price for that acceptance, but there's nothing he can do about that, either.) Pacino goes over the top yet again: It might be vintage Pacino, but it's not Jimmy Hoffa. The standout in the cast is Pesci as the capo who knows all the angles and knows how to play them. He's this movie's equivalent of Brando in "The Godfather": omniscient, self-assured and lethally understated. It's probably the best work of his career. Several times in the movie, Frank and Russell sit down together over a loaf of bread and a glass of wine. It's their personal sacrament, an act of communion, and the symbolism, in a Scorsese movie, is not accidental. Significantly, Sheeran never does that with Jimmy Hoffa.